Brady, Manning have a lot at stake in AFC championship

Saturday

Jan 18, 2014 at 10:12 PMJan 18, 2014 at 10:12 PM

By Eddie PellsThe Associated Press

DENVER — Only one of them can be the greatest.

Peyton Manning could be the one — owner of a record four, working on five, Most Valuable Player awards, current holder of NFL single-season records for passing yardage and touchdowns and architect of a career-reviving second act, the likes of which has rarely been seen in any sport.

Tom Brady could also be that man — leader of five Super Bowl teams and winner of three titles, one-time holder of some of the records Manning holds now and author of an undefeated regular season. He also has that 10-4 record against Manning despite constant turnover on his roster and a lack of a star-studded receiving corps.

Manning and Brady will meet today for the 15th time, and the fourth time in the postseason, when the Broncos (14-3) face the Patriots (13-4) in the AFC title game.

Legacies on line

The winner between the top two quarterbacks over an era in which quarterbacks have never been so good will get what could be the last say in the debate over who goes down as the greatest — not so much because of what the win-loss numbers will say but because this could be the last time they meet with the stakes so high.

“I don’t know that there will ever be another rivalry like it, or has been a rivalry like it,” said John Elway, whose own rivalry with Dan Marino was held to only three meetings because of scheduling quirks over their decade-plus careers.

The game will either give Brady a chance to match Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw for a fourth title or afford Manning the opportunity to win a second ring, which would put him one behind Brady, and in the same company with his brother, Eli, Roger Staubach and Elway, among others. It would also make Manning the first QB to win championships with two different teams.

Mutual respect

While paying ultimate respect to each other — “I feel like he’s been a better player each year than he was the year before,” Manning said — neither quarterback professes to care much about how their own head-to-head showdowns will define their legacy.

Don’t believe it, says Phil Simms, who admits in retirement that the smile was a little wider after he walked off the field with a win over a Staubach or Joe Theismann.

“It’s always personal, no matter what,” Simms said. “It’s part of being a competitor and doing what you do.”

Welker tabs it ‘toss-up’

Welker, who played with Brady for six years before coming to Denver this season, says it’s not so much stats or physical attributes that defines these two Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks.

“They do a great job of keeping guys accountable, and their leadership skills and everything else,” he said. “They are two guys you want quarterbacking your team. It’s a toss-up between those two.”

This 60 minutes (or more), their first title-game meeting since Manning’s 38-34 comeback win en route to his first Super Bowl in 2007, could mark the last time the top two QBs of their — or any — era meet for these stakes.

Brady is 36 and, though relatively healthy, he has taken a beating over his career. Some say the Patriots, their roster decimated by injuries, defections and the arrest of Hernandez, got this far on smoke and mirrors this season. How much longer can they hold things together at a championship level?

And Manning? He is 37 and his future will largely depend on how his neck looks when doctors examine it during the offseason. The Broncos, meanwhile, are built to win right now, and have made it this far despite a rash of injuries on both sides of the ball.

No guarantees about the future.

“They’re thinking about it during the week,” Simms said. “When they play, they play. But when it’s over, one of them will go, ‘Yep, I got him again.”’